Rangefinder Film Camera Portraits

Yashica Minister D [1964 - 1971*]

Overview

In the early 1960s, Yashica produced a considerable number of fixed lens rangefinder cameras, and the first Minister (with built-in light meter) came along in 1960. In 1962 it evolved into the Minister II with modest changes, and then in 1963 the Selenium meter cell was moved from the camera body to surround the lens, making the Minister III. The final version was the Minister D, in which the meter was replaced by a CdS cell.

In some ways it's a sophisticated rangefinder with an accessible calibrating screw in the middle of the back of the top plate. The viewfinder features a pink split-image rangefinder spot, and self-correcting parallax bright-frame lines. It has a self-timer with a nominal 8 sec delay, and the shutter must be set at X synch to use this, regardless of whether you are using flash.

A battery-saving button with a red dot (located on the back of the camera to the users left), activates the exposure meter. It is the exposure system that truly defines this camera, and which revolves around a Light Value setting procedure: essentially an EV system by another name (this article). Many other cameras of the time had LV/EV scales which registered the value of shutter/aperture combinations, but in this model, the aperture value is a product of shutter/LV/EV combinations. In other words ... it has no aperture setting dial.

It works like this. A shutter speed is set via a shutter speed ring. An LV number is read from the meter, and then manually transferred to the LV ring, which in turn sets the appropriate aperture. For example, say the camera is set to a speed of 1/125th at f/8 for an LV of 13 (at 100 ASA), and you wish to set a new LV.

LV 14 produces settings of 1/125th at f/11,

LV 15 produces settings of 1/125th at f/16, etc.

Adjustment of the shutter speed will synchronously change the aperture setting to maintain an LV. For example, say the camera is set to a speed of 1/125th at f/8 for an LV of 13 (at 100 ASA).

Changing the shutter speed setting to 1/250th will adjust the aperture to f/5.6, and

Changing the shutter speed setting to 1/500th will further adjust the aperture to f/4, etc.

The LV and shutter speed dials are synchronised, so that when a speed/aperture combination is outside of the camera's range, then the shutter speed also adjusts as the LV ring is moved. For example, say the camera is set to :

LV 15 settings of 1/125th at f/16.

LV 16 changes the shutter speed to produce settings of 1/250th at f/16.

For the casual user, that's the end of the process. The LV system successfully simplifies two variables (shutter speed and aperture) into one. However, the camera allows further control for more experienced photographers, and this is where it is not so successful, since it complicates operation by forcing two variables to become three (shutter speed, aperture, and LV).

It is possible to preferentially start by selecting an aperture. This is accomplished adjusting either the shutter speed or LV dials (because both are synchronised to the aperture setting) to set a desired aperture, and then holding the shutter speed dial (which stops the aperture changing) while setting the LV value, which now selects the appropriate shutter speed for the required LV. Say the camera is set to LV 14, 1/125th, and f/11, but the light has dropped to LV 10, the subject has changed and I now want to shoot with the largest possible aperture.

I can select f2.8 by changing the LV setting to 7,

then by holding the shutter speed ring, adjust the LV to 10, which in turn sets a shutter speed of 1/125th.

The exposure setting system is biased towards shutter speed priority, because its operation favours this approach. None of the dials are click-stopped, so it's possible to set any intermediate values. It's not feasible to identify (through observation alone) how the camera responds to intermediate values, and the user manual says nothing about intermediate settings. In fact, the manual is clinical and comprises a set of simple - press this, turn that - instructions. It makes none of the usual brags about how wonderful the product is. I suspect that intermediate aperture settings may well be used, but it's unlikely the shutter speeds with do anything other than conform to a set of mechanically governed steps.

*According to a 1971/2 photographic equipment catalogue published by Hastings based retailers Gifford Boyd, the Minister D was still in production that year, and had a price of £42.49.

I bought the D because it appeared to be the most sophisticated of the Minister series. I really wanted an Electro 35 type model, but they have become (or should that be remained?) pretty iconic, and are relatively expensive (and I blame that Peter Parker - Spiderman bloke!). The truth is, the Minister bears very little operational similarity to the Electro 35s.

My camera is in good condition, and is nicely made; the fit and finish are excellent. The shutter release button is a bit slow to return to its ready position, but that doesn't matter because the Minister D is not a model that temps me to use it.

I admire the mechanics and ingenuity of this camera, but operationally, I detest it. Using those synchronised dials is like herding cats. It reminds me of an Orrery, where you twiddle a dial and the moon rotates around the earth as the earth rotates around the sun. I think Orreries are totally cool, but it's just annoying on a camera when you move one dial to find all the others have adopted a new setting.

And ... here's another slightly weird thing I don't like about it; its name. I'm sure Minister was selected on the basis of the meaning some sort of leader, but I associate the name with religion; not that I've got anything against religion (in fact, one of my main work clients prior to retirement was the Church of England), but it's not my thing. Neither would I be drawn to a camera called Deacon, Priest, Rector, or Vicar (and so far as I know, these names have never been used - except for the DeJur Dekon-SR)!

Bokeh

Bokeh is a Japanese term used to discribe how a lens renders (blurs) the defocused areas of an image. The range of effects can vary from busy and distracting patterns to a smooth, soft, or creamy blur.

The bokeh qualities of a lens become most apparent when an un-sharp background (or foreground) has significant contrasts, such as pinpoints of light appearing within darker surroundings (e.g. light seen through the leaves of trees). Defocused points of light will often take the shape of the lens aperture, so might be pentagonal, hexagonal or octagonal (etc).

There are other lens construction factors that influence the quality of bokeh, but they are complicated and accidental consequences, because lenses have rarely been designed to evoke a particular bokeh effect; it just turns out nice ... or not.

Personally, I like a buttery bokeh, and the best way of encouraging that to happen is to open-up the aperture, so the lens iris is as round as possible.

A bigger mystery is perhaps how to pronounce bokeh. I say boke, but others go for boo-kay, which is a bit too close to bouquet for my liking.

What's this got to do with the Yashica Minister D? Absolutely nothing! There was just a space on this page, and I though I'd fill it.

YASHICA

The forerunner to the YASHICA Company began in 1949 manufacturing components for electric clocks. In 1953, under the name - the Yashima Optical Company - the organisation turned to cameras, producing TLR models called Yashimaflex and Pigeonflex. These were later re-badged as Yashicaflex, leading to the formation of the Yashica Company in 1958. A move to 35mm cameras was aided by the purchase of Nicca, who had started to produced original designs. The company was further enhanced by the take-over of Zunow, who had - at that time - some advanced camera design ideas. In 1965, Yashica introduced the world's first commercially successful electronically controlled 35mm camera, the Electro 35, a popular rangefinder model that eventually sold 8 million units. Yashica acquired a reputation for both electronic camera expertise and high-quality optics. In 1973, Yashica began a collaboration with Carl Zeiss to produce a new professional 35mm SLR with an electronically controlled shutter bearing the Contax name, and called the RTS (for Real Time System). In 1983, Yashica was acquired by ceramics giant Kyocera, but by 1985 the company was facing intense market competition from other manufacturers, especially Minolta. In response, Kyocera gradually repositioned the brand as a budget-priced point & shoot line, moving manufacturing from Japan to Hong Kong, and discontinuing all high-end SLR camera production.